Elevator safety device



Sept. 23; 1924.

i w. M. HENSLEY ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE Filed Feb. 9,

1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Sept. 23 1924.

W. M. HE N$L.EY ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE Filed Feb. 9, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W .;H2m$4@,

INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 23, 1.924%

UNITED STATES WILLIAM M. HENSLEY, OF VICCO, "VIRGINIA.

ELEVATOR SAFETY DEVICE.

A plication filed February 9, 1924.

T0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that VVILLIAM M. HENSLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vic-co, in the county of Wise and State of Virginia, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Safety Devices, of which. the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in elevator safety devices.

An object of the invention is to provide an elevator car carried mechanism controlled and held inoperative by the cable for the car adapted to engage the shaft structure of the elevator upon breakage of the cable for arresting the movement of the car.

Another object of the invention is to provide an elevator car with movable brake members adapted to engage portions of the elevator shaft having operating means carried thereby and operated by the movement of the car in the shaft for operating the brakes to engage said shaft and arrest the movement of the car, the operating means being held inoperative by the cable in supporting the car and released upon the breakage or non-support of the car by the cable for permitting operation ofthe operating means and consequent operation of the brakes for arresting the movement of the car in the elevator shaft resulting from the breakage of the cable.

The invention comprehends other objects and improvements in the construction and arrangement of the parts which are more particularly pointed out in the following description and claims, directed to a preferred form of the invention, it being understood that changes in its specific construction and arrangement of these parts may be made within the scope of the invention as described in the claim.

1n the drawings forming a part of this application Figure 1 is an elevational view of a por tion of the elevator shaft structure and a car movable therein to which the'invent-ion is applied.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the car from a position taken at right angles to Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1. l

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Serial N01 691,730.

Figure5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view taken onrline 6--6 of Figure 3.

1 indicates corner uprights and guide members of the elevator shaft secured together by spaced connecting bars 2, the connecting bars mounting a plurality of vertical guide bars 3 which are adapted to guide the elevator car indicated generally at 1 in the elevator shaft through the channel guide members 5 which receive and slide on the guide bars 3, as clearly shown in Figure 3 of the drawing. The elevator car 1 has a floor frame 5 provided at the lower end thereof from which extends a pair of uprights 6 from the central of'opposite ends, which are reinforced by the members 7 connected at the upper ends to the uprights 6 and at the lower ends to the floor frame adjacent the corner portions thereof.

Channel bars 8 are mounted on the lower edge of the floor frame 5 of the car at the front and rear edges thereof in opposed relation for slidably receiving the U-shaped brake members 9 carrying the brake shoes 10 of enlarged section at the free ends there of which are adapted for engagement with the faces of the uprights 1 of the shaft structure. A block 11 is mounted on the lower side of the floor frame 5 and is provided with a projection 12 notched as indicated at 1.3, on the opposite sides thereof, the ends of the projections being pointed as shown, particularly in Figure 3. This block, it will be noted, is positioned in the central portion of the frame 5 between the brake members 9, and a supporting platev is indicated at 14. which is mounted adjacent the bloclr 11 and adaptedfor sliding movement bet-ween the brake members, one end of the block being formed with a recess iortion 15, for receiving an operating shaft 16 having reversely threaded portions 17 at opposite sides of the plate members which receive the correspondingly threaded sleeves 18 mounted in the central portion of the brake members 9 so that upon a rotation of the shaft 16. a movement will be imparted through the threaded connection for sliding the brake members in the channel bars 8 either toward or away from each other for a purpose to be described. The central portion of the shaft 16 is formed with an enlarged diameter as indicated at 19, for preventing endwise movement through the plate members this enlarged portion 19 fitting within the recess in the plate members for this purpose. Pinions 20 are mounted on the opposite ends of the shaft 16 and are adapted to engage racks 21 which extend vertically in the elevator shaft and are attached. to the central portions of the connecting bars 2 as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3. A pair of compression springs 22 are positioned bet-ween the end of the plate opposite the recess portion and connected thereto and the floor frame 5 for normally forcing the plate member anva from the block 11 which carries with it the shaft 16 extending through slots 28 in the frame 5 and which disengages the pinions from the racks 21.

For additionally disenga 'ing the pinions 20 from the racks 21, links 24 are provided with openings 25 receiving the shaft 16 at one end thereof and are pivotallv connected at the other end thereof with bell c?ank levers 25 mounted on the outside of the frame 5 above the links 2 1, the other ends of thebl'lcrank levers receiving the depending ends of the operating plates 26 carried by the cross beams 27 with which is connected the usual cables 28 for the elevator car, so that the weight of the car suspended from the cable will operate the bell crank levers in such a manner that the pinions 20 will be held out of engagement with the racks 21 by the weight of the car 1!: on the cable. The operating plates 26 are formed with slots 29 which receive limiting; pins 30 carried by the uprights 6 adjacent the upper ends thereof so that the movement of the bell crank levers 25 is sufficient to operate the pinions 20 to engage the racks 21. but'stops pins 30 to prevent an excessive pressure being applied on the pinions 20 against the rack 21.

A pair of poles are pivotally COD- nected intermediate their ends at on the plate member 14 and are provided with oppositely disposed pole projections adapted for cooperative engagement with the notches 13 in the'projections 12 for holding: the plate member 14 against the block 11 with the pinions 20 in engagement with the rack bars 21. Springs connected between the opposite ends of the pawls 31 and the floor frame 5, serve to rock said pawls on the pivots for positioning the projections in cooperative relation with the notch projection 12 of the block 11. Releasing memhers 35m mounted for a relative sliding and rocking movement in guidewavs 36 on the plate m'ember 14; and are normally projeeted outwardly from the plates by springs 37 which engaged between the limiting pins 38 and the outer ends of the slots in the re leasing members, the outer ends of said members being adapted for cooperative e11- gagement with cams 39 mounted on the upper faces of the brake members 9, The relezmin; members are opcriltml by these cams 39 in the retracting movement thcrc of by the operating shaft 16 for sliding); movement through the guides 36 so that they will engage the pole levers ll and rock them about the pivots so that the plate mom-- ber 1-1 may he released for permitting; the movement of the operating shaft and car rving' the pinions 20 to disengage said pinions from the racks after which dis engagingmovement. the sliding of the plate relative to the brake members .l will position the ends of the releasing; members 233 beyond the cams 39 so that H or will assume their normal positions as shown in l ignrc 5' under the notion of the springs 3T. In a subsequent operation of the luake members and the plate member 14' to position the pinions 20 in engagement with the racks 21, the releasing nicn'ibors 35 will ride up the inclined surfaces of the cams S9 and rock on the pins until the brake members are moved outwardl in the application of the brake shoes to stop the movement of the car until the cams 39 are positioned beyond tho ends of the releasing members when they will drop back into the position shown in Figure 5 for subsc ueniing releasing the pawl projections 33 from the notches 121 in the projection on the block 11.

From the above descriptiom it will be readily seen that the weight of the elevator car 4 carried by the cable 28 will normally operate through the bell crank levers 25 to hold the plate member '14- and the operating shaft 16 carrying the pinions 20 in a posi tion so that the pinions will be spared from the racks 21. Tu this position the springs 22 are placed under tens on to normally draw the plate member ll toward the block 11 so that the parts are alwavs in readiness for operation to position the pinions fi into interineshing cnn,;c1nent with the teeth on the rack bars for opcixatingr the brahr members to engage the llDliQiil'fi L so that in the event that the cable 28 should break and release the car. whi h under ordinary conditions would drop to the bottom of the sha H. the swings 22 will operate the plate 14- to draw the said plate toward ,the block ii and carry with it the operating shaft 16 so that the pinions 20 carried therchv will mesh with the racks 21. The downward movement of the car in the shaft after the meshing of a pinion 20 with the rack 21 will cause a rotation of the operating; shaft 16 in a direction that the brake members fl will be moved outwardly in opposite directions through the threaded connections thereof with the operating shaft for directing the brake shoes 10 against the uprights 1 of the elevator shaft until the motion of the ear is completely arrested in its downward movement This operation will take place in a relatively short movement of the car l downwardly in the shaft,

As soon as the cable 28 has been reconnected so that it will support and raise the car in the shaft, a raising movement applied through the cable to the car-to draw the same upwardly in the shaft will operate the bell crank levers for normally extending the pinions 20 in the operating shaft 16 away from the racks 21, but will be prevented in this action by the poles 31 engaging with the notches 13 with the block 11, so that the upward movement of the car in the shaft will cause a reverse rotation of the operating shaft 16 which will occasion a reverse movement of the brake members 9 and throw them toward each other to release the brake shoes from engagement with the uprights 1 of the elevator shaft the movement of which will cause an engagement of the cams 39 with the releasing members 35 until the ends of said releasing members rock the poles 31 on their pivots 32 to release the plate member 14 from the latched position shown in Figure 3 so that the weight of the car 011 the left will through the bell crank levers 25 operate to move the shaft and the plate member 14 away from the block member 11 and thereby disengage the pinions 20 from the racks 21, whereafter the operation of the car up and down the elevator shaft by means of the cable may be occasioned without the operation of the brake members and upon a subsequent breaking of the cable, the brake members will be again operated for arresting the movement of the elevator car in the shaft in the manner above described.

From the above description, it will be noted that a safety device has been provided for elevators which is carried by the car with cooperating parts carried by the elevator shaft structure which will operate auto matically upon the breakage ofthe cable and a downward movement of the car in the shaft to apply the brake shoes to the elevator shaft and arrest the movement of the car preventing the dropping thereof to the bottom of the shaft and consequentdamage to the contents of the elevator and the associated structure, and also the subsequent repairing of the cable and the raising of the elevator thereby will cause the automatic operation of the safety device to release the brakes and restore the parts to a position ready for a subsequent operation.

What is claimed is:

In combination, an elevator shaft, a car movable in said shaft, a cable for supporting and moving said car in the shaft, a pair of oppositely movable brake members slidably mounted in the car, having shoes carried thereby for engaging with the elevator shaft to arrest the movement of the car, a shaft rotatable in said car, a plate member rotat ably mounting said shaft and adapted for a sliding movement relative to the car, the ends of said rotatable shaft being provided with pinions, racks carried by the elevator shaft for cooperative engagement with the pinions on said rotatable shaft to rotate the same in the movement of the elevator car in the shaft, means operating the plate member for normally holding the pinions in engagement with said racks, pawl members pivotally mounted on the plate member for cooperative engagement with a notch projection carried by the car to lock the plate member wit-h the pole engaging said racks, releasing members carried by the plate mem ber movable for disengaging said pawls for permitting a sliding movement of the plate member, cams carried by the brake mem ber adapted for operating the releasable members to release said pawls, and cable operating means connected with the rotatable shaft normally operating to move said shaft and plate member for holding the pawls in disengaged relation with respect to racks, whereby the breakage of the cable will permit the operation of the plate to move the pawls into engagement with the racks for rotating the shaft having connection with the brake members adapted for operating said brake members to apply the brakes to the elevator shaft and arrest the downward movement of the car, a subsequent upward movement of the car by the cable operating the rotatable shaft to retract said brake members from engagement with the elevator shaft for releasing the brakes, said retracting movement of the brake members operating the releasable members for disengaging the pawls from looking cooperation with the projection carried by the car for permitting the disengagement of the pawls from the racks through the operation of the cable operated means.

WILLIAM M. HENSLEY. 

